Pauls Kalnins
(1872-1945) - Chairman of the First, the Second, the Third and the Fourth Saeima.

Pauls Kalnins was born on 3 April 1872 in Vilce. Upon finishing the local municipal primary school he attended the Liepaja Gymnasium; afterwards he studied natural sciences in Moscow. In 1898 he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Tartu University. He worked as a physician in Tukums, Jelgava and Riga. In 1897 he was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Dienas Lapa ("The Daily Paper"). Together with other members of the Jauna strava ("The New Current") he was arrested and expelled from Latvia. In 1901 P. Kalni?? returned to Jelgava and headed the Kurzeme Social-Democrats group. He participated in the revolution of 1905.

From 1903 to 1906 P. Kalnins lived in emigration in Switzerland. From 1906 to 1915 he worked as a physician in Jurmala. He was a member of the editorial boards of several social-democratic publications and contributed articles to those publications.

During World War I P. Kalnins was an army surgeon. In 1917 he became a member of the Riga Workers' Deputy Council and participated in the founding of the democratic bloc. Subsequently he became a member of the People's Council and a deputy of the Constitutional Assembly and of all the convocations of the pre-war Saeima. After the resignation of F. Vesmanis, on 20 March 1925 P. Kalnins was elected Chairman of the Saeima.

1918-1922 he was Chairman of the Central Committee of the Social-Democratic Party; 1925-1934 he was Chairman of the Culture Foundation. After the 15 May 1934 coup P. Kalnins spent four months in the Riga Central Prison and under house arrest. 1942-1944 he was a member of the underground Central Committee of the Social-Democratic Party. In 1944 P. Kalnins was sent as a delegate to Sweden, but during the passage in the Baltic Sea he was arrested and taken to Germany. He died in Austria.